Is Kirkwood A Racist Neighborhood?

Nearly a week after being for mirrored glass on the outside of his restaurant, the owner of the Kirkwood Bar & Grill vows he will appeal to ruling in court.

David Johnson, the owner of the bar, said the ongoing dispute between him and some Kirkwood residents over his restaurant centers around him being black and owning a business that he says caters to a predominantly black clientele.

"The guys who had this business before, they were both white guys," Johnson said, referring to the restaurant's previous owners when it was the Kirkwood Public House.

Johnson bought the 3,600-square-foot property from the Shumacher Group in March and reopened in May under the Kirkwood Bar & Grill moniker.

"All I did was follow the same model," Johnson said, explaining the mirrored glass is an extension of the reflective, second-story windows.

"The only difference is their clients mostly were white and now my clients are mostly black."

That difference, he said, has fueled the opposition to the mirrored glass in his storefront, as well as the fight against him obtaining a liquor license.

It's the catalyst to what he said led to a racial slur — "Nigger Leave Kirkwood" — being spray-painted across the garage door of his Gwinnett County home last week. Though he has no proof and Gwinnett County Police continue to investigate, Johnson believes one of his restaurant's opponents is behind the hate crime.

"I don't have to create the issue," Johnson said. "The facts speak for themselves."

Kirkwood neighborhood officials say race has nothing to with the controversy.

"Though I detest racial bean counting, I will note that Kirkwood is an eclectic, majority African American neighborhood," said Earl Williamson, chairman of Neighborhood Planning Unit-O, which includes the Kirkwood, Edgewood and East Lake communities.

"Well over 90 percent of the alcohol permits in this NPU are black or Asian held, and more than half of the Kirkwood Business District businesses are non-white owned and operated."

As for the racial slur, Williamson said it remains to be seen who is responsible.

The key problem neighborhood leaders and some residents say they have with Johnson is that he hasn't worked with the community at large or with homeowners in and near the Kirwood Station complex, where the restaurant is an anchor business.

If there's any difference in how Johnson is treated versus the eatery's former owners, it would be "because the previous owners did not attract gunfire, felonies, fights, excessive noise or misrepresentation," Williamson said, explaining the opposition to the liquor license.

"The previous owners of the site worked with the community to assure a business model and product that met the needs of both Kirkwood House & the Kirkwood neighborhood. The previous owners did not operate a bar after having misrepresented themselves as a family oriented restaurant."

Johnson who shuttered the restaurant nearly a month ago after losing his temporary liquor license, bristles at that characterization, saying his establishment is being maligned out of hate.

In the meantime, 40 people were left jobless, after shutting down.

"It’s a very small group of people who are the adversaries," he said. "That implies that it’s an unsafe place. When I stand up against something that’s unjust or an misstatement about me and my company, it’s an issue."

A spokesman for the Atlanta Police Department said it will take several days to pull the 911 calls associated with Johnson's business at 1963 Hosea Williams Drive SE. Meanwhile, NPU-O has filed a formal open records request for those statistics.

Johnson, who reopened Monday — still awaiting Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s decision on the liquor license application — said he’s tried to be a good corporate neighbor.

He's operating with a skeleton crew until — and if — Reed approves the license.

He said he gave money toward neighborhood fundraisers such as the , but that his membership in the Kirkwood Business Owners’ Association was cancelled, his dues returned without explanation and the restaurant not listed in the group’s directory.

Emily Wimbush, the KBOA president, said he wasn’t kicked out of the group; he requested to leave.

Further, she said he couldn't have contributed to the Wine Stroll, since only active KBOA members could participate.

“A little time after the neighborhood starting having problems with Mr. Johnson's business tactics, he sent an e-mail to the KBOA website on July 16 [see PDF] requesting that his membership dues of $100 be returned to him,” she said.

It was then that the restaurant was removed from the directory.

“Mr. Johnson has told numerous people that he was "kicked out" of the KBOA or that our organization did not want his membership,” Wimbush said.

“He was the one to request his membership money back and that this is an example of the many of his allegations against the KNO, KBOA and Kirkwood Station that are fabricated and false.”